Mini Caramelised Onion and Tomato Quiche

For the first time in my life, I cooked onions like I’ve never cooked them before. I cooked them till they were caramelized and for the first time I possibly ate something that had onions as the main ingredient. And for the first time, I thought onions indeed rocked!

I got this awesome recipe, from an awesome website. It has great recipes and if I’m not mistaken its authored by two individuals named Amanda and Debbie from Australia. I like how they are so detailed when explaining their methods and ingredients.

So back to this dish. I’ve tried mini quiches before – ham and cheese ones. They are divine. But there is something so special about these onion + tomato quiches that I just hope you give it a try. The process might seem longer than regular ham and cheese mini quiches but they are oh so worth it.

I will reproduce the recipe as is with my comments in red.

Mini Caramelized Onion and Tomato Quiche

Recipe from Exclusively Food

Makes: 24 quiches

Use a 20ml tablespoon and 250ml measuring cup

What you need:

500g red onions (about 2 very large onions) [I used about 7 mediums sized onions]

40ml (2 tablespoons) oil

40ml (2 tablespoons) balsamic vinegar

36g (2 tablespoons, firmly packed) brown sugar

Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste [don't add too much salt]

1 medium garlic clove, peeled and crushed

2 teaspoons (10ml) oil [regular cooking oil]

4 medium roma tomatoes (about 335g total) [be sure you buy medium-sized and not large]

3 sheets frozen puff pastry, thawed (we use sheets that measure about 25cm by 25cm)

4 large eggs

125ml (1/2 cup) cream

125g grated tasty cheddar cheese

What to do:

1) Peel onions. Cut onions in half and thinly slice.

That's a whole lot of onions!

2) Heat 40ml (2 tablespoons) oil in large heavy-based saucepan over medium heat. When oil is hot, add onion. Cook stirring occasionally, for about 15 minutes, or until onion is limp and its colour is less vibrant.

3) Add balsamic vinegar, brown sugar and salt to the saucepan, and stir until ingredients are well combined. Reduce heat to low and cover saucepan. Cook, stirring occasionally  for about 30 minutes, until onion is very soft and caramelized. Remove lid and continue cooking, stirring every couple of minutes, until the mixture is thick and just beginning to catch on the bottom of the saucepan. If you onion mixture hasn’t reached this stage after about 10 minutes, increase the heat to medium to speed up the process.

This is how the caramelized onions should look like. Yes it's that ugly

4) Remove saucepan from heat, set aside and allow the onion mixture to cool to room temperature. The onion mixture can be cooled in the refrigerator if desired.

5) Preheat oven to 210C. Combine crushed garlic and 10ml (2 teaspoons) oil in a small bowl and set aside.

6) Generously grease two 12 hole non-stick muffin pans

7) Cut tomatoes into about ½ cm thick rounds. You will need 24 slices of tomato.

Assembling the Quiche

1) Using a round cutter with a diameter of 8cm, cut 24 rounds from the pastry sheets. Press pastry rounds into the muffin holes to cover the base and a little of the side of each hole. If you are making the quiche in two batches, keep half the pastry in the refrigerator while the first batch is cooking.

2) Using a fork, whisk eggs, cream, salt and pepper together in a medium bowl until well combined.

3) Divide grated cheese evenly among the pastry cases.

4) Spoon a scant tablespoon of egg mixture into each pastry case.

5) Divide caramelized onion evenly among the quiches.

6) Top each with a tomato slice.

The tomatoes I bought were very large hence the slices look squished here

7) Spoon a small amount of garlic oil onto each tomato slice and season with pepper.

8) Bake quiches for about 22-24 minutes, until puffed and golden. Remove quiches from pan while hot.

Notes From Exclusively Food:

1) If you have one muffin pan only, set aside half of the grated cheese, caramelized onion and egg mixture before you start filling the pastry cases. This will ensure you have the correct amounts of these ingredients for the 2^nd batch of 12 quiches and make it easier to divide the ingredients evenly among the cases.

2) Serve quiches hot or at room temperature.

3) Store quiches in airtight container in the refrigerator. Suitable to freeze. [I've frozen them and then reheated in oven at 150C for about 8-10mins to eat]

Super yummy the combination of onions and tomato is heavenly!

I would like to wish all readers a very Blessed Christmas and Happy 2013!! Thanks for reading The Sudden Cook and it has been a pleasure starting this blog. Here's to more new recipes, exciting cooking adventures and lovely readers!